Criminal Minds: Killer Profile by Max Allan Collins

Criminal Minds: Killer Profile by Max Allan Collins
Pages: 276
ISBN: 978-0-451-22382-1
Back Of Book Description:

They're members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, an elite team of FBI profilers tasked with examining the nation's most twisted criminal minds--and anticipating their next moves before they strike again...

The BAU team is called to help Chicago detectives investigate a series of bizarre murders: a couple shot to death in a parked car; two women strangled in a public park; a young man's decomposed body stuffed in a plastic barrel. Though equally violent and disturbing, the crimes seem unrelated--until profiler David Rossi makes the connection.

Rossi recognizes each grisly tableau, murders modeled on the crime scenes of three of the countries most notorious serial killers: The Son Of Sam, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Someone is taking the cult of true crime to terrifying extremes...and since there are so many killers left to emulate, Rossi wonders how he can possibly profile a killer who's hiding within the killer profiles of others.

My Rating: B


The plot of this novel was fascinating. I loved (and feared) the idea of a serial killer copy catting other serial killers, and the problem of finding out who he was going to copy next kept the story moving smoothly. I also was impressed by the fact that (and it's sad to put it this way) it wasn't just the 'same ol' serial killers over and over again. I even learned about a couple I've never heard of before.

The characters themselves though were bland I thought. The characters from the show were, not quite spot on. There were similarities but the dialog seemed strained, as if the author was trying very hard to make them sound like they would in the show, but just...missing it.

Unless you're a hardcore fan who this would bother greatly, it doesn't take away from the book too much. I really enjoyed this and look forward to the next one in November.